58
THE INDIAN OPHIOGLOSSUMS
BY
J. D. d'Almeida, B.A., B.Sc. {Hon.)
Assistant Professor of Botany , St. Xavier's College , Bombay.
There is a considerable amount of confusion in the treatment of the Genus Ophioglossum. The extreme variability of the individuals comprising the different species has been the fruitful parent of a large number of spurious species. In the following article the Indian Ophioglossums are treated, and an attempt is made to mark their limits.
Beddome in his “ Handbook to the Ferns of British India, Ceylon and the Malay Peninsula ” describes 5 species, 0. vulgatum L 0. nudicaule L., 0. fibrosum Schum., 0. reticulatum L. and 0. pendulum L. In his supplement to the same book he adds 0, gramineum Willd., which I take to be a form of 0. lusitanicum L.
0. vulgatum and 0. reticulatum are inseparable from each other. I have lumped them together under the common name 0. vulgatum . The rest of the Indian Ophioglossums are distinct species, though Beddome suspects 0. nudicaule to be a form of 0. gramineum . I add one more species, 0. Aitchisoni Sp. Nov. which brings the total of Indian Ophioglossums to six.
It will be worth while at the outset to bear in mind that previous descriptions have been vitiated by the length of the stipe or the distance of the sterile division of the frond from the rhizome being recorded. This length seems to me to be of no systematic importance, as it varies with the depth of the rhizome in the soil. I have therefore not taken it into consideration.
(1) Ophioglossum vulgatum L. — Hook, Syn. Ml, pp. 445 and 446 ; Bedd E.S.I. t. 70. O. reticulatum L 0. cordifolium Boxb. f O. petiolatum Hk. Ex. F. t O. pedunculosum Desv.
I have compared a good number of sheets both Indian and European and am convinced that they are merely forms of the same species being connect- ed by a number of transitional stages. From earlier descriptions only the following points of difference between 0. vulgatum and 0. reticulatum can be made out. ,
0. vulgatum L., Sterile division not cordate at the base, without a distinct haft.
0. reticulatum L. Sterile division distinctly cordate at the base, provided with a distinct haft. The following instances will show that these charac- ters are not constant.
